1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mouthpiece and an insertion assisting device for an endoscope. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mouthpiece and an insertion assisting device for an endoscope for assisting oral examination of the small intestines.
2. Description of Related Art
As disclosed in a guide tube for guiding an insertion part of an endoscope into a body cavity is attached to a mouthpiece for use in the examination of a small intestine.
In the mouthpiece, the guide tube is inserted into an insertion hole formed in a mouthpiece body, and a fixing member is fitted in a cut groove connected to the insertion hole so that the guide tube can be fixed to the mouthpiece body. The Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 10-234656 also discloses an example wherein a ring-shaped fixing member is engaged with the mouthpiece body, and is tightened to the mouthpiece body so that the guide tube can be fixed to the mouthpiece body.
The conventional mouthpiece, however, is not easy to carry since the fixing member fitted in the cut groove is separate from the mouthpiece body. The fixing member engaged with the mouthpiece body is easy to carry since it is handled together with the mouthpiece body. However, it takes a long time to fix the guide tube since the fixing member has to be tightened to the mouthpiece body.
The conventional guide tube is inserted from the mouth of a subject to the small intestine. The fixing member fixes the guide tube to the mouthpiece body after the insertion length of the guide tube is adjusted. More specifically, the mouthpiece for use in the examination of the small intestine is composed of the mouthpiece body and the fixing member.
The conventional mouthpiece, however, requires various kinds of mouthpiece bodies with different sizes of parts to be held in the mouths of the subjects for different sizes of mouths. The mouthpiece body has to be machined for the purpose of fixing the guide tube. If various kinds of mouthpiece bodies are prepared, the cost is increased very much. The mouthpiece body is ordinarily bulky, and it is therefore complicated to maintain the mouthpiece if various kinds of mouthpieces are prepared.
An index indicating an insertion length of an endoscope insertion part inserted in the body cavity of the subject is formed on the endoscope insertion part. This makes it possible for an operator to recognize the insertion length of the endoscope insertion part and to specify the position of a pathological area confirmed by the endoscope.
If the conventional guide tube is used, however, the index formed on the endoscope insertion part is concealed by the guide tube, and this makes it impossible to know the insertion length of the endoscope insertion part.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mouthpiece for an endoscope, which is excellent in portability and enables a guide tube to be fixed easily.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mouthpiece for an endoscope, which is easy to manage and reduces a cost.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an insertion assisting device of an endoscope which makes it possible to correctly know the insertion length of an endoscope insertion part.
The above objects can be accomplished by providing a mouthpiece for an endoscope, comprising a mouthpiece body that has an insertion hole into which a guide tube for guiding an endoscope insertion part is inserted, and a fixing member for fixing said guide tube inserted into said insertion hole of said mouthpiece body to said mouthpiece body, said mouthpiece wherein: a large hole and a small hole are formed in said fixing member, said large hole and said small hole being connected to one another; said fixing member slides between such a first position that said insertion hole of said mouthpiece body overlaps said large hole of said fixing member and such a second position that said insertion hole of said mouthpiece body overlaps said small hole of said fixing member, said fixing member being attached to said mouthpiece body in such a manner as to rotate at said second position; and said guide tube is inserted into said insertion hole of said mouthpiece body and said large hole of said fixing member at said first position, and then said fixing member is slid from said first position to said second position and is rotated by a predetermined amount at said second position to thereby hold said guide tube between an inner periphery of said insertion hole and an inner periphery of said small hole to fix said guide tube to said mouthpiece body.
According to the present invention, the fixing member is positioned at such a first position that the large hole of the fixing member overlaps the insertion hole of the mouthpiece body so that the guide tube can be fixed to the mouthpiece body and the fixing member. Therefore, the guide tube is attached to the mouthpiece body and the fixing member. Since the guide tube is not fixed to the mouthpiece body, the guide tube is inserted into the body cavity.
To fix the guide tube to the mouthpiece body, the fixing member is sled first and is positioned at such a second position that the small hole of the fixing member overlaps the insertion hole of the mouthpiece body. At this time, the guide tube is elastically deformed by the inner periphery of the insertion hole and the inner periphery of the small hole, but the guide tube is not fixed to the mouthpiece body since the fixing member moves from the second position to the first position by a restoration force of the guide tube.
The fixing member positioned at the second position is rotated by a predetermined amount to prevent the fixing member from sliding. Consequently, the fixing member never moves toward the first position, and thus, the guide tube is held in the state of being pressed between the inner periphery of the insertion hole and the inner periphery of the small hole. Therefore, the guide tube is surely fixed to the mouthpiece body.
As stated above, the mouthpiece of the present invention is excellent in portability since the fixing member is slidably and rotatably attached to the mouthpiece body. Moreover, the guide tube can easily be fixed to the mouthpiece body only by rotating the fixing member.
The above objects can also be accomplished by providing a mouthpiece for an endoscope, comprising: a mouthpiece body that has an insertion hole into which a guide tube for guiding an endoscope insertion part is inserted; a tooth contact member detachably mounted at an outer periphery of said mouthpiece body, said tooth contact member being held in a mouth of a subject; and a fixing member for fixing said guide tube inserted into said insertion hole of said mouthpiece body to said mouthpiece body.
According to the present invention, the tooth contact member of the mouthpiece is formed independently of the mouthpiece body. Thus, it is only necessary to provide various kinds of tooth contact members correspondingly to various sizes of mouths, and the mouthpiece body can be used commonly for various sizes of mouths. Unlike the mouthpiece body, the tooth contact member does not have to be machined for fixing the guide tube, and therefore, the mouthpiece for the endoscope according to the present invention can be used for various sizes of mouths at a low cost. According to the present invention, it is necessary to only provide various kinds of tooth contact members which are smaller in weight and size than the mouthpiece body. Thus, the mouthpiece can be managed more easily in comparison to the case where various kinds of mouthpieces are prepared.
According to the present invention, the tooth contact member of the mouthpiece is fixed to the mouthpiece body at the same time as the guide tube is fixed to the mouthpiece body by the fixing member. Thus, the tooth contact member can be fixed easily.
The above objects can also be accomplished by providing an insertion assisting device for an endoscope for assisting oral and percutaneous insertion of an endoscope insertion part into a body cavity, said insertion assisting device wherein: an index indicating an insertion length of said insertion assisting device in the body cavity or an index indicating an insertion length of said endoscope insertion part is formed on a surface of said insertion assisting device.
According to the present invention, the index indicating the insertion length of the endoscope insertion part is formed on the insertion assisting device, so that the operator can correctly know the insertion length of the endoscope insertion part even if the insertion assisting device is attached to the endoscope insertion part. Moreover, the index indicating the insertion length of the insertion assisting device in the body cavity is formed on the insertion assisting device, so that the operator can correctly know the insertion length of the insertion assisting device.